A few months ago, MaxNewz reported on the worrying fall in African elephant numbers, largely caused by illegalpoaching of the animals for their precious tusks. Now some good news has been released that will certainly give the elephant some breathing room and hopefully allow their numbers to recover.

China's State Council has just made an announcement that has pleased animal protection campaigners around the world - the almost completeban on the domestic ivory trade in China. This will prevent the manufacture and sale of ivory products and is due to come into effect before the end of this year.

Already the first batch of factories and shops in China has been announced and they will lose their licenses before 31 March, 2017. WildAid's wildlife campaigner Alex Hofford praised the decision, calling it "the biggest and best conservation news of 2016". The World Wildlife Fund says that upward of 20,000 elephants are killed each year to supply the ivory trade. A hundred years ago there were as many as 4 million elephants, but that number has plunged to only 415,000 today. The animal is now officially on the 'vulnerable' list.

The governmentannouncement allows legally obtained ivory antiques still to be auctioned, but only under "strict supervision" and only after official clearance and authorisation. The government will also boost law enforcement and enhance education to ensure people understand the new rules and abide by them.

WWF Hong Kong's Senior Wildlife Crime Officer Cheryl Lo said the aggressive timeline "shows determination to help save Africa's elephants from extinction. A ban clearly requires strong enforcement and support from the government to be most effective. But with China's announcement, three of the world's largest domestic ivory markets, that is China, Hong Kong and the U.S., are being phased out," Lo said in a statement. The United States put in place a near-total ban on the commercial ivory trade back in June.

Campaigners are now pressing the Hong Kong government to speed up its plans for phasing out their local ivory trade before the deadline of 2021.